UCT honours Molly Blackburn

Herald Correspondent

Cape Town – The University of Cape Town last night honoured Black Sash activist Molly Blackburn, who died in a mysterious car crash in 1985, by naming one of its halls the Molly Blackburn Memorial Hall.

The hall is adjacent to the main Jameson Hall. One of UCT’s halls was previously named after Mrs Blackburn, but it ceased to exist after extensive rebuilding on campus.

Mrs Blackburn was a member of the provincial legislature for the Progressive Federal Party in the 1980s, and a stalwart of the anti-apartheid organisation, the Black Sash.

UCT said yesterday, “She is remembered for her work in the Eastern Cape, where she highlighted the human rights abuses being perpetrated by the security forces of the time.

“Blackburn also attempted to uncover the facts behind the murder by security police of the Cradock Four – Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli.”

UCT council member and former Black Sash president Mary Burton said Mrs Blackburn “will be remembered for her courage and determination in the work that she undertook as a member of the Cape provincial council, sitting in Cape Town, representing the PFP, and as a member of the Black Sash, defending the rights of South Africans to justice and freedom from discrimination”.

“She responded fearlessly to appeals for assistance, particularly from areas around her home city of Port Elizabeth, and whenever communities were threatened by violence and repression.

“It was while travelling with colleagues in the Eastern Cape, recording events under the state of emergency, and taking statements, that she was killed in a car accident in December 1985.”

There were widespread suspicions that the apartheid state had had a hand in the accident, but this was never proved.

Also killed in the accident was human rights activist Brian Bishop. Mrs Blackburn’s sister, Di Bishop – Brian’s wife – was badly injured in the accident.

UCT vice-chancellor Njabulo Ndebele said Mrs Blackburn had been “a remarkable woman who was one of the truly great South Africans to stand up and be counted during one of the darkest periods of our history”.

“Her work in the 1980s served to bring into the public domain the dark dealings of the security forces, the full nature of which were only fully revealed during the TRC hearings,” he said.

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